Screen



D6231, 1935. R H, TT NG 2,025,728

SCREEN Filed Oct. 12, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fi 4 F119. 5

INVENTOR @4444 M cfizi;

m a 2 i ATTORNEY.

Dec. 31, 1935. R, H, UTT|NG 2,025,728

SCREEN Filed Oct. 12, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 INVENTOR. F 1 y. 6 W

8 5 ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 31, 1935 UNITED STATES PATIENT "OFFICE I 2,025,128 SCREEN Richard Hawley Cutting, Cleveland, Ohio Application October 12, 1932, Serial No. 637,445

4 Claims This invention relates to screens and more particularly to fire place screens.

An object of my invention is to provide a screen which is adapted to effectively prevent flying sparks from leaving the fire place.

Another object of my invention is to provide a protective screen which is adapted to be easily installed in the fire place.

Another object of my invention is to provide a fire place screen which is adapted to be unobtrusively positioned substantially in the plane of the front face of the fire place or slightly within the fire place.

Another object of my invention is to provide a protective screen which is positive in operation and will not bind due to excessive heat.

Another object of my invention is to provide a screen of the above type adapted to be adjusted whereby the force required to raise or lower the screen will be altered.

Another object of my invention is to provide a screen which may be economically and easily assembled.

Another object of my invention is to provide a screen which will remain in a raised, lowered or intermediate position as desired.

Another object of my invention is to provide a screen wherein the bottom edge thereof is adapted to always remain in a generally horizontal position irrespective of where thereon the exerting force is applied.

These and other objects of the invention will become increasingly apparent from a consideration of the accompanying drawings constituting a part hereof and in which like reference characters refer to like parts and in which- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a fire place equipped with a protective screen embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional plan view of a fire place side wall and a screen end frame showing a preferred method of securing the screen within the fire place.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional plan view of a fire place side wall and screen end frame wherein the screen is grouted in place.

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of the screen.

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of the screen taken along line 6-6 of Fig. '7.

Fig. '7 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional view showing the manner of rolling the screen.

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view through one of the side frame members taken along the line 8-8 of Fig. 6, and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing the manner of attaching the screen.

.bolts 20 having In the drawings I show a conventional fire place I, having secured therein a preferred embodint leait of my improved screen generally indicated a The screen housing comprises preferably sheet metal side frames 3, bent to form a dual box shaped structure provided with a longitudinal opening 4, for a purpose hereinafter described, integrally secured to a preferably box-shaped top frame 5, by welding as indicated at 6 and I. The side frames 3 are formed by weldingly securing together along the longitudinal edges thereof the inverted L shaped member 3aand the inverted.

F shaped member 3b as indicated at 8 in Fig.8. The top frame 5 comprises the L shaped sheet 15 metal member 6a and the inverted L shaped sheet metal member 6-?) weldingly secured together along their horizontal edges as indicated at 9 in Fig. 7. A tubular element III is rotatably mounted in side frames 3 adjacent their upper ends in a manner hereinafter described.

Bolts II are disposed in aligned apertures provided therefore in side frames 3 upon which are disposed flanged bushings I2 with the flanges thereof abutting the inner Walls of the side frames 3 and are non-rotatably secured by nuts l3 and lock nuts I4. The bushing l2 provides a rigid mounting for a sprocket l5 which is rotatably disposed thereon, preferably by press-fitting a ball bearing it between the inner face of the laterally extending flange of sprocket l5 and the outer face of bushing l2. The sprocket l5, hearing I6, and bushing l2 are preferably assembled as a unit with sufiicient clearance being provided between the inner face of the flange of bushing 5 I2 and the outer face of sprocket 15 to ensure free rotation of the sprocket.

The ends of tubular element III are telescoped over the laterally extending flanges of sprockets. l5 and are secured thereto by screws l1 disposed in apertures provided in tubular element Ill and engaging aligned threaded apertures provided in the flange of sprocket IS. The tubular element ill will thus be rotated with the sprockets IS.

A screen l8 of suitable heat resistant material is secured to tubular element II) by arcuate clips l9 which grippingly engage the element I 0 thereby locking the intermediately disposed screen 18 in position.

Apertures are also provided adjacent the lower end of side frames 3 within whichare disposed rotatably mounted thereon sprockets 2|- A flanged bushing 22 threadedly engages bolt 20 and is drawn sufliciently tight to prevent relative movement within the wall of the side frame 3. A ball bearing 23 is press fitted between the outer horizontally extending face of bushing 22 and the inner face of sprocket 2|. and abuts a shoulder 24 of bushing 22 to ensure that the sprocket 2| will have sufficient clearance 00 to be freely rotatable. A normally compressed spring 25 abuts the inner vertical face of sprocket 2| and seats upon an annular threaded member 26 provided with a portion 21 adapted to receive 5 a wrench or the like whereby the member 26 may be rotated. It will be observed that by rotating member 26 the spring force may be increased or decreased and thereby relatively affecting the rotation of sprocket 2|.

A link chain 28 connects the upper sprocket I3 and the lower sprocket 2|. A removable plate 2'|-a secured by screws 21-!) is preferably provided whereby the member 21 will be easily ascessible to regulate the force exerted thereby.

The link chain 28 has a link pin removed to accommodate a shouldered pin 28 of a cylindrical element 38. The head of pin 28 is flanged over as indicated in Fig. 8, thereby securing element 38 to chain 28. An intermediate portion 3| of element 88 is preferably reduced to provide a guide shoulder which slidingly engages opening 4 in side frame 3. The shoulder will abut the inner wall of the side frame and limit the lateral play of the screen. The portion 3| acts as a guide in the vertical movement of the screen.

A tubular guide element 32 is preferably pressfitted over the element before assembling the screen and has the bottom end of screen |8 secured thereto by arcuate clips 33, as previously described and as clearly indicated in Fig. 9. A horizontal covering bar is disposed around tubular element 32 and comprises the generally complementary arcuate members 35 and 38 secured together by bolts 31. The member 35 is 35 provided with a dependent tongue section 35-41 engaging the dependent groove section 36-11 of section 36. Aligned hand holes 38 are provided in members 35 and 38 and member 35 is provided with a lateral guide tongue 39 which slidingly engages opening. 4 of sideframe 3. Two hand holes 38 are preferably provided and are disposed adjacent the side frames in order to minimize any danger of warping and consequent binding, due to exerting a lateral thrust on the guide bar while 45 heated. Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate preferred methods of securing the assembled housing within the fire place. Laterally extending strips 40 may be secured to the side frame in any suitable manner and grouted in the side walls of the fire place in 56 a manner well understood.

It has not been found necessary to use strips such as indicated at 40 if the housing is merely grouted in place. A suitable moulding 3| is preferably also provided.

55 In Fig. 3 is shown another construction wherein the fire place is recessed as indicated at 42 and the housing is disposed in the recessed portion. A suitable molding 43 may also be used as a facing for the housing.

60 It will be noted that screen l8 isvremovably fixed to both the roller Ill-and guide bar 38 whereby the screen may be removed from the housing.

Although I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention it is understood that various modifications may be employed by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and the claims thereof.

Having thus described the invention, what I 70 claim as new and useful is:

1. In a fire place closure of the character described having a housing adapted to be secured to the fire place, said housing being provided with vertically extending guide slots, a tubular element rotatably supported in the upper portion of said housing, a screen adapted to be wound upon said tubular element, a guide bar amxed to the bottom of said screen and engaging said vertical guide 5 slots and tensioned alignment means 'aflixed to said guide bar for maintaining same in a substantially horizontal position when manually operated to raise or lower the said screen; means for varying the tension of said alignment, means whereby 10 thet bar will require greater or less force to opera e.

2. In a fire place closure of the character described having a housing adapted to be secured to the fire place comprising generally box-shaped 15 metal side frames provided with vertical guide means and a generally box-shaped metal to? frame integrally secured to said side frames, a tubular element rotatably supported in and generally enclosed by said top frame, a screen adapt- 20 ed to be wound upon said tubular element and depending from a longitudinal opening provided in said top frame, a guide bar afilxed to the bottom of. said screen, .provided with laterally ex-. tending tongues loosely engaging said guide slots 5 whereby the screen will be maintained in a genrally vertical plane, means for maintaining said guide bar in generally parallel alignment with said tubular element comprising an upper sprocket integrally secured to and rotatable with said 30 tubular element, a lower sprocket rotatably supported adjacent the lower end of said side frame,

and a link chain engaging said upper and lower sprockets and adapted to engage each end of said guide bar whereby the guide bar in moving up- 35 wardly or downwardly will remain parallel to said tubular element; adjustable spring-pressed means engaging the lower sprockets whereby the tension thereon may be altered to relatively alter the operable force necessary to move the screen. 40

3. In a fire place closure of the character described having a housing of generally inverted U-form adapted to be secured to the fire place and provided with vertically extending guide means, a tubular element rotatably supported in 45 the upper portion of said housing, a screen adapted to be wound upon said tubular element, a guide bar afilxed to the bottom of the screen and engaging the housing guide means, and alignment means disposed in the housing legs rotatably-linking the tubular element and the guide bar, adjustment means for varying the tension to which the alignment means is subjected, and removable cover means secured to the housing for rendering the adjustment means accessible.

4. In a fire place closure of the character described having a housing adapted to be secured to the fire place, a tubular element rotatably supported in the upper portion of the housing, a screen adapted to be wound upon the tubular no element, a generally horizontally disposed guide element secured to the bottom of the screen, and link means between the tubular element and the guide element maintaining them in substantially parallel relation; a protective covering for the guide element maintaining the guide element in a predetermined relation to the screen and adapted to be removed, whereby the guide element may be adjusted with relation to the screen.

RICHARD HAWLEY CU'I'TING. 

